Brrrr…

Okay, well so much for the whole Indian summer thing. Time to break out the (faux) bearskin rugs and snug up the tipi lacing. Although the sun was nice today (when it managed to swing out from behind the obstructing cloud cover), the wind was seriously nippy. And I, in my morning fog, forgot to bring an overcoat. Which made for a quick, no-dawdling walk for me, despite my snuggly Americorps sweatshirt and matching hat/glove/scarf ensemble.

As far as the work portion of my day went, though, it was all warmth and cheer. Really! I had a busy but comfortably productive morning (although I did uncover one serious error in volunteer hours reporting last month – when I was still getting my head around the process – but hopefully that can be cleared up without anyone’s head rolling other than mine). And this afternoon went by pretty quickly and smoothly, too, all things considered. Plus, my homework club partner discovered a whole cache of last year’s volunteer forms (which I had either forgotten about or never realized we had), so I’m going to start calling them to see if they want to help out again this year.

We did have our first test of the incentive program this week. One of the students didn’t make the points needed to collect her weekly toy prize and boy, was she ever steamed! Which I count as a success, because it means that getting a prize means enough, to her at least, to sting when it doesn’t happen. Which will hopefully lead to an overall improvement in behavior over time.

Let’s be clear, I’m not looking for “Red Sea” brand Miracles and Wonders ® (look for them wherever stone tablets are sold!). I’m just hoping for a general drift toward better behavior. Which actually appears to be happening, in part due to the fact that more kids means less one-on-one attention and therefore less opportunities to abuse that attention for entertainment or what have you. In fact, it seems like the less time I have for any one kid, the more they seem to behave, settle down and get to work. Weird. But hey, I’ll take it.

Of course, we’re still there to help those who need it. If they ask for it, that is, instead of demanding it (another ongoing issue, which seems to be working itself out). But one person can only do so much, so they’re beginning to rely on one another and help each other, which is sorta a major goal of mine anyway. Kewlness!

On another happy note, we got another food shipment today – with sweet cereal bar goodness! Our new Supervisor is hoping to streamline the whole meal plan thing by moving from prep-intensive foods to “hand them out of a box” goodies that are still reasonably nutritious without taking up hours of cooking and cleaning time, which is something I can definitely get behind. We’ll even be going on a Sam’s Club safari tomorrow to see if they have enough interesting stuff there to warrant getting a card.